Indian Union Government has appointed Urjit Patel, 53, as new Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He will be 24th Governor of RBI. He will have tenure of three years and will succeed Raghuram Rajan.
The Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Urjit Patel based on the recommendation of the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC), headed by the Cabinet Secretary. He will be the eighth Deputy Governor to be made Governor at the RBI and among the very few with a corporate background to become the RBI Governor. Prior to his appointment (or elevation), he was serving as the Deputy Governor of RBI. For first time, he was appointed as the Deputy Governor of RBI in January 2013 for three year term and was later reappointed on January 2016.
He hails from Gujarat and had received his doctorate in economics from Yale University in 1990) and M Phil from Oxford (1986). By profession, Urjit Patel is an eminent economist, consultant and banker. He has two decades of rich experience across sectors including financial, energy and infrastructure sectors. He has worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) covering the US, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks between 1990 and 1995. Besides, he also had worked closely with several union and state government committees especially those on market studies, direct taxes, anti-trust laws, Prime Minister’s Task Force on Infrastructure and sectors such as, the telecom, aviation, power and pensions.
He will be starting his tenure from September 4 as announced by the govt. He will be the 24th RBI governor, whose tenure will continue for three years. Importantly, the RBI is central bank of India, which regulates banks, prints money and prevents volatility in the foreign exchange market. It is also the government’s banker and lender.
by Ashwani Sristava